Long Beach State guard Deishuan Booker, left, drive toward the basket as UC Irvine guard Max Hazzard defends during a Big West Conference game earlier this season at UCI. At least six teams likely feel like they can win the Big West Tournament this week at Honda Center. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

The usual coaching mantra before the Big West Conference Tournament, which begins Thursday at Honda Center, is “Three Days in March.”

As a mid-major league with its profile densely located in California, at-large bids are as rare as bipartisan bills in Congress, so participation in the NCAA Tournament comes down to which team can win three games in three days in Anaheim.

The phrase being heard most often this year is “We can beat any team in our league if we play well.” At least six teams in the eight-team tourney believe that, and recent history shows that parity indeed has become the league’s middle name.

In 10 seasons dating to 2008, nine teams have won the postseason tournament, including seven over the past seven seasons. UC Santa Barbara has won it twice since 2008. Pacific, which left the league to join the West Coast Conference, is one of the nine. The only current member that hasn’t reached the NCAA tourney is UC Riverside. Over the past seven seasons, fifth seeds have won the event as often as regular-season champions (twice each).

Three local teams all are making a case for their chances.

UC Irvine (16-16, 11-5 Big West) played for the regular-season title Saturday, losing in double overtime to UC Davis (21-9, 12-4). The Anteaters played one of the toughest nonconference schedules in the nation, which explains their overall record. The Anteaters are 10-3 in their past 13 games, and two of the losses were the OT heartbreaker and a loss to Hawaii featuring more than a few specious foul calls. The Anteaters meet Hawaii (17-12, 8-8) in the first round.

“Even when we were playing so many games on the road against good teams, we felt we would contend for the league title and be in this spot,” UCI coach Russell Turner said. “The difference Saturday was that we didn’t finish when we had the chance in regulation and the first overtime.”

UCI came close despite its promising sophomore center, Tommy Rutherford (10.5 points per game), who led the team in scoring six times down the stretch, getting in foul trouble and playing only 16 minutes in the 50-minute game, with four points. The Anteaters play elite defense and are the best rebounding team in the conference by a large margin, with a quartet of big men no other team can match.

Cal State Fullerton (17-11, 10-6) finished fourth in the league and would have finished higher if it hadn’t lost two of its last four games, to UCR and Hawaii. The Titans have the best pair of guards in the conference in juniors Kyle Allman Jr. (19.4 ppg, 42 percent on 3-pointers) and Khalil Ahmad (15.3 ppg).

When that pair and forward Jackson Rowe (12.1 ppg, 6.7 rebounds per game) are on the court together they are as vibrant as any team offensively.

“All of our games this season have come down to one thing,” said Dedrique Taylor, the Titans coach who has turned the program around in five seasons. “If we share the ball like we can, we win. When we don’t, we struggle. All our losses in league have come down to that.

“I just have to coach better, to get this team to the point where they play that way consistently. Because when we do, we’re capable of beating anyone.”

The Titans’ first-round game is against longtime rival Long Beach State (15-17, 9-7), which started league play 6-2, then lost five of six before bouncing back with two wins over UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside last week. Senior Gabe Levin (18.4 ppg) is a gifted player when he stays out of foul trouble, and guard Deishuan Booker (10.2) has become the go-to guard.

Related Articles

“Our schedule was a little front-loaded with teams that have struggled this season,” LBSU coach Dan Monson said. “Then we faced some adversity and didn’t handle it well.” Two losses during that 1-5 skid came against UC Irvine and UC Davis, games they led by as much as seven points in the second half.

“The last two games have definitely sparked for us,” Monson said. “We always play the season in three parts, the hard nonconference schedule, a deep league and then three tourney games. This is a deep league this season with a lot of good teams, but we’re as capable of winning three games as anyone.”

A preview of the quarterfinal matchups. The tourney is re-seeded after the quarterfinals. Friday’s semifinals will be at 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., and Saturday’s title game is at 9 p.m.

UC Davis (21-9, 12-4) vs. UCR Riverside (9-21, 4-12), noon: The Aggies suspended senior starter Chemi Moneke at midseason because of a team rule violation, and his status hadn’t changed as of this week. They went 6-2 without him, former Tustin High and Saddleback College guard TJ Shorts II (15.2 ppg) taking charge, with Scott Schneider (14.3), a 3-point threat. The Highlanders fired their head coach on New Year’s Eve and handed the job to former UCR standout Justin Bell. Riverside was 0-8 the first half of the season but closed 4-4, with one loss by a point and another in overtime. Dykembe Martin (15.0) leads the team in scoring.

CS Fullerton (17-11, 10-6) vs. Long Beach State (15-17, 9-7), 2:30 p.m.: Both teams started fast (Titans 4-0, 49ers 6-2) in league play before hitting potholes. They split their season series. Levin is the only game-to-game consistent player for the 49ers. Except for a four-minute span in their last meeting, the Titans dominated the 49ers.

UC Irvine (16-16, 11-5) vs. Hawaii (17-12, 8-8), 6 p.m.: Hawaii’s win over UC Irvine was notable since the Warriors made just three second-half field goals and just one in the final 17:40, surviving on free throws. The island team is an enigma. They started league play 4-1, then lost five straight. They use a seven-man rotation that is solid, led by Mike Thomas (13.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg), former Long Beach Poly star Drew Buggs, and Gibson Johnson (9.9/4.7), a 26-year-old 6-foot-8 forward who graduated high school in 2010, went on a Mormon mission to Brazil and didn’t restart his basketball career until 2014. The Warriors, the No. 6 seed, have a win against each of the five teams seeded ahead of them, and they went 4-4 in league road games.

UC Santa Barbara (22-8, 11-5) vs. Cal Poly (9-21, 4-12), 8:30 p.m.: UC Santa Barbara wasn’t expected to bounce back as quickly from last season’s 6-22 freefall, but Nevada graduate transfer Leland King (15.9), seniors Gabe Vincent (12.5) and Jalen Canty (13.1) and sophomore shooter Max Heidegger (19.4, 41 percent on 3-pointers) had the Gauchos atop the league before losing three of their last five. The Mustangs beat UCSB in the league opener but eight of their 12 league losses were by double-digits.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.